This song just gets better with every listen.

I don't get why this song isn't getting more love on here.

MattyJam said:

This song just gets better with every listen.

I don't get why this song isn't getting more love on here.

Yeah I REALLY dig it now. Definitely a standout.

This song might be my favorite song on the whole CD. Wherever I've been playing this song, in my car or on the subway, I've been jamming and dancing hard in my seat. I'm just glad I didn't get into an accident or hit someone in the head while I was bopping! The funk kicks my ass on this one, I take the lyrics as a story Prince is telling us and nothing more and I enjoy it. I want to see Prince do this one live cause I just know it's going to kick some major, MAJOR ass live. FUNKY!!!

Timmy84 said:

Dirty fat banker sold a house today

Sold at auction wants the family out the way

Kicked them on the street 'cause they couldn't pay the tax

Called it an act of God

I get a million dollars for people to hear me sing

Gotta give a banker half of everything

Didn't the founding fathers holler about the same thing (yes they did)

Called it an act of God

Well I got news for you

Freedom ain't free

They'll lock you in a cell if you try to be

The ones who say no make history

Called it an act of God

Tax dollars build a plane and drop a bomb

Supposedly to keep us all safe from Saddam

Bringing bad news to another war mom

Called it an act of God

I got news for you

Freedom ain't free

They'll lock you in a cell if you try to be

The ones who say no make history

Called it an act of God

Funny how nobody's holy books are the same

Everybody's God got a different name

The day it is over it's the end of the game

And they'll call it an act of God

It'll be all over when the people are free

Free to be who and what they wanna be

Wherever we go it's up to you and me

Call it an act of God

We're so tired

Said we're through with fear

There never was no hell or boogie man here

If you just see (look) he's in your mirror

Call it an act of God

Call it what you want

Except an act of God (repeat 3x)

Call it an act of God

Call it what you want

Except an act of God (repeat 5x)

[Edited 7/11/10 13:08pm]

I think I hear the above changes... ??

Growing on me each day. Superb cut.

And 'preachy' lyrics? Come on! Listen to them properly before you make stupid comments.

aintnoboutadoubtit said:

BigDaddyHQ said:

This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. the funky/bluesy groove is total kick azz IMO. I have absolutely no problem with the lyrics... nor do I understand why peeps keep saying they're preachy. He's making more of a political statement than anything else. And it seams that ever since he became a JW... some fans cringe at the mention of the word God.. even though he has ALWAYS made religious and political statements in the past and they had no problem with the lyrics then... so why so much now.

In fact the 'preachiness' or statements in this song are more or less no different than what he has done in many songs in the past... pre-JW days. Most notable being Sign O the Times. I never heard people have problems with the lyrics of that song... but this one they do..?

oh and lyrics wise... correction

"Tax dollars build a plane, drop a bomb

Supposedly to keep us all safe from Saddam

Bringing bad news to another war mom"

reference to 'war moms' should be kinda obvious

[Edited 7/10/10 3:56am]

Agreed. 100%. No preachiness here. Just lazy listening and knee-jerk reactions whenever Prince so much as says 'God.'

This is clearly a political, social song. Not remotely religious.

The same applies to Prince's soul ballads and r&b, it is uniformly regarded as 'bland and generic.' This is largely because many here prefer Prince's rock material.

Production's slamming. But this tune is a pretty selfish, Glenn Beck piece of weirdness.

It is, at heart, about how the founding fathers would have hated taxes. And presumably public roads, and libraries, and emergency health response, and environmental agencies that stop people spilling mercury into Yellowstone Park, and so on.

And it’s being sung by a millionaire who lives in a palace.

My problem is that Prince’s ‘social’ songs aren’t really about ‘the rest of us’ any more. All that generosity’s gone. This ‘social’ song is really about ‘poor me’, and it’s sung by a man luckier than any of us could ever possibly hope to be.

[Edited 7/12/10 9:14am]

Prince said:

I get a million dollars for people to hear me sing

Gotta give a banker half of everything

Didn't the founding fathers holler about the same thing (yes they did)

Called it an act of God

Seriously. Look at this lyric a minute.

Forget the evil taxes. Before that. You get paid a million dollars? To do the best job in the whole world? And afterwards, you're left with a MERE $500,000?

Good heavens. I know exactly how you feel, Prince.

Why, times are tough! I had to sack the guy who makes my clothes! And I'm not flying to Spain to eat in Michelin-starred restaurants any more! Seriously. I'm not picking up the phone to ask if someone can find me a camel at 4:00 AM because I want to make a video for a track I just finished again. Promise you that.

Great Prince is now a Tea Bagger.

NEXT!

It reminds me of The Voice and that is a good thing in my book. It was my fave on first listen and still is. Time will tell if it stays this way.

When i hear the lyrics i hear that people hide behind religion by claiming that it is a "act of god" and then doing bad things. Who are we to know what God wants and doing his acts on earth. The lyrics dont offend me. I dont mind if he writes about what is going on in his mind. They cant all be sex songs or we would be bored out of our minds

it wouldn't be so bad if the return on our "investment" was more than a few pennies. keep bailing out the fat cats, and you still wanna be called democrat? the hurting and desperate still die. where'd my money go?

cool song, btw

I like the song but I can see that Prince is lost when it comes to politics.

He rails against the 'banker' who is the government. The bank doesn't take your house for none payment of tax nor do they take half--that is the government.

I do not know what he is getting at with the "founding fathers" but but they were opposed to tax.

Freedom is not free it takes men and woman willing to kill and be killed to keep it. Which he sees opposed to on its face. He knows full well the devil gonna great you with a smile.

He also wines about using tax dollars on defense, now, the cherry picked example he gives (which refers to Clinton as much as either Bush) of bombing Iraq is one that can be debated--in isolation-- but the sad fact it we do need bombs in this world. It is almost contradictory to say we do not. If we did not then in due time we would not be able to say that against the people that come to power.

People in the US said some pretty harsh things against Bush for going to Iraq. Few recognize that if they said that about Saddam in Iraq they could be put to death. So the expression "stay out of Iraq" might as well be "they are not worth the effort."

Anyway, prince needs to stick to the sexy and leave the politics in his pocket.

emesem said:

Great Prince is now a Tea Bagger.

NEXT!

do you think any government should tax half of what a person earns?

to pay for things you do not approve of?

to give to someone else to spend?

It is never greedy to want to keep what is yours!

If you were at the taco bell and your bill was more than what it was for the same thing the day before and they said "the guy before you was short so we added it to your bill" would you react well?

Splanknasty said:

Prince said:

I get a million dollars for people to hear me sing

Gotta give a banker half of everything

Didn't the founding fathers holler about the same thing (yes they did)

Called it an act of God

Seriously. Look at this lyric a minute.

Forget the evil taxes. Before that. You get paid a million dollars? To do the best job in the whole world? And afterwards, you're left with a MERE $500,000?

Good heavens. I know exactly how you feel, Prince.

Why, times are tough! I had to sack the guy who makes my clothes! And I'm not flying to Spain to eat in Michelin-starred restaurants any more! Seriously. I'm not picking up the phone to ask if someone can find me a camel at 4:00 AM because I want to make a video for a track I just finished again. Promise you that.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I like the song but I can see that Prince is lost when it comes to politics.

He rails against the 'banker' who is the government. The bank doesn't take your house for none payment of tax nor do they take half--that is the government.

I do not know what he is getting at with the "founding fathers" but but they were opposed to tax.

Freedom is not free it takes men and woman willing to kill and be killed to keep it. Which he sees opposed to on its face. He knows full well the devil gonna great you with a smile.

He also wines about using tax dollars on defense, now, the cherry picked example he gives (which refers to Clinton as much as either Bush) of bombing Iraq is one that can be debated--in isolation-- but the sad fact it we do need bombs in this world. It is almost contradictory to say we do not. If we did not then in due time we would not be able to say that against the people that come to power.

People in the US said some pretty harsh things against Bush for going to Iraq. Few recognize that if they said that about Saddam in Iraq they could be put to death. So the expression "stay out of Iraq" might as well be "they are not worth the effort."

Anyway, prince needs to stick to the sexy and leave the politics in his pocket.

He acts like bankers just have carte blanche to just grab peoples' money. Uh...no, sweetheart...it's the government that does that. The government you think should "do more." Where do you think the money that you believe should go to social programs comes from, Prince? And let me tell you, entitlements make up way more of the federal pie than defense.

The bankers are simply trying to get what individuals agreed to pay them, but have not (for whatever reason).

OnlyNDaUsa said:

emesem said:

Great Prince is now a Tea Bagger.

NEXT!

do you think any government should tax half of what a person earns?

to pay for things you do not approve of?

to give to someone else to spend?

It is never greedy to want to keep what is yours!

If you were at the taco bell and your bill was more than what it was for the same thing the day before and they said "the guy before you was short so we added it to your bill" would you react well?

To answer your questions: yes, yes and yes.

emesem said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

do you think any government should tax half of what a person earns?

to pay for things you do not approve of?

to give to someone else to spend?

It is never greedy to want to keep what is yours!

If you were at the taco bell and your bill was more than what it was for the same thing the day before and they said "the guy before you was short so we added it to your bill" would you react well?

To answer your questions: yes, yes and yes.

what should % of earnings should the top level be?

But I am encouraged you support the war.

This is my other favorite track from the album. I'm guessing Prince wrote 20Ten when he was listening to 1999 and working on his taxes

urvile said:

This is my other favorite track from the album. I'm guessing Prince wrote 20Ten when he was listening to 1999 and working on his taxes

maybe 1999 was really a 1099

Genesia said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I like the song but I can see that Prince is lost when it comes to politics.

He rails against the 'banker' who is the government. The bank doesn't take your house for none payment of tax nor do they take half--that is the government.

I do not know what he is getting at with the "founding fathers" but but they were opposed to tax.

Freedom is not free it takes men and woman willing to kill and be killed to keep it. Which he sees opposed to on its face. He knows full well the devil gonna great you with a smile.

He also wines about using tax dollars on defense, now, the cherry picked example he gives (which refers to Clinton as much as either Bush) of bombing Iraq is one that can be debated--in isolation-- but the sad fact it we do need bombs in this world. It is almost contradictory to say we do not. If we did not then in due time we would not be able to say that against the people that come to power.

People in the US said some pretty harsh things against Bush for going to Iraq. Few recognize that if they said that about Saddam in Iraq they could be put to death. So the expression "stay out of Iraq" might as well be "they are not worth the effort."

Anyway, prince needs to stick to the sexy and leave the politics in his pocket.

He acts like bankers just have carte blanche to just grab peoples' money. Uh...no, sweetheart...it's the government that does that. The government you think should "do more." Where do you think the money that you believe should go to social programs comes from, Prince? And let me tell you, entitlements make up way more of the federal pie than defense.

The bankers are simply trying to get what individuals agreed to pay them, but have not (for whatever reason).

LOL, let me get this straight. You're sticking up for the bankers that created these sub prime mortgages? Do you have any idea what caused the housing crisis?

This is definitely one of my favorites on the album. I love the music and the lyrics, especially the last verse. I'd love to hear an extended version. The groove is begging for a two minute or so jam session!

xpertluva said:

This is definitely one of my favorites on the album. I love the music and the lyrics, especially the last verse. I'd love to hear an extended version. The groove is begging for a two minute or so jam session!

i'm hoping he's going with an extended version of the album for the warner's release.

that would actually make sense. same album, just a few song extended a couple more

minutes and perhaps 1 more song or something.

that wouldn't alter the album too much, probably only enhance it since most of these

tracks are just begging for a few more minutes of cool solo's over the basic beat of

the tracks, a la the 1999 album.

it'd be good for additional sales in europe since i'd go to the store and pick me up one

more copy in a heartbeat.

NeoGeo24bit said:

Genesia said:

He acts like bankers just have carte blanche to just grab peoples' money. Uh...no, sweetheart...it's the government that does that. The government you think should "do more." Where do you think the money that you believe should go to social programs comes from, Prince? And let me tell you, entitlements make up way more of the federal pie than defense.

The bankers are simply trying to get what individuals agreed to pay them, but have not (for whatever reason).

LOL, let me get this straight. You're sticking up for the bankers that created these sub prime mortgages? Do you have any idea what caused the housing crisis?

that is not what the song is about. Prince is singing banker but he means the tax man. (as far as prince being a tea partier? so was John Lennon)

and the true roots of the sub prime goes back to the government. it was created by the federal government. Was it over used? yeah. But still it started as a democratic program.

Um... no, John Lennon was not a tea partier. If he were alive today, he would have hated them more than anyone else living.

xpertluva said:

This is definitely one of my favorites on the album. I love the music and the lyrics, especially the last verse. I'd love to hear an extended version. The groove is begging for a two minute or so jam session!

For real! This song is my favorite song on 20TEN and another 5 mins of "Act of God" would make me happier than a pig in the mud. Prince doesn't even have to sing, just let the music go in whatever direction that it wants to, like the last few mins of "I Wanna Be Your Lover".

OnlyNDaUsa said:

NeoGeo24bit said:

LOL, let me get this straight. You're sticking up for the bankers that created these sub prime mortgages? Do you have any idea what caused the housing crisis?

that is not what the song is about. Prince is singing banker but he means the tax man. (as far as prince being a tea partier? so was John Lennon)

and the true roots of the sub prime goes back to the government. it was created by the federal government. Was it over used? yeah. But still it started as a democratic program.

Good grief....the FOXnews propganda machine has even infected the org. We're doomed. Ok the most sophisticated ponzy scheme in world history was caused by blacks and hispanics and the laws that prevent discrimination in lending and not, say, lax regulation, fraud, massive errors in judgement and plain old stupidity at the highest levels of finance and goverment....right...right...

Anyone else hearing Sudan not Saddam?

(It still makes sense. This was my favorite track on first listen still LOVE it, this album is SICK.)

Splanknasty said:

Um... no, John Lennon was not a tea partier. If he were alive today, he would have hated them more than anyone else living.

he would have been opposed to the oppressive tax that we all face in the wake of the Bush/obama spending.

emesem said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

that is not what the song is about. Prince is singing banker but he means the tax man. (as far as prince being a tea partier? so was John Lennon)

and the true roots of the sub prime goes back to the government. it was created by the federal government. Was it over used? yeah. But still it started as a democratic program.

Good grief....the FOXnews propganda machine has even infected the org. We're doomed. Ok the most sophisticated ponzy scheme in world history was caused by blacks and hispanics and the laws that prevent discrimination in lending and not, say, lax regulation, fraud, massive errors in judgement and plain old stupidity at the highest levels of finance and goverment....right...right...

too bad that this propaganda is true. the federal government stated the sub prime deal. The anti discrimination in leading was a different issue. It was not lax regulations and was not affected at all by anything done under Bush.